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IARc Lecture Series: Joey Shimoda

Wednesday, October 25th, 5:30 pm

Location: Weatherspoon Auditorium

Shimoda is the principal of a 10-person studio—Shimoda Design Group—that has worked with a number of clients, including Steelcase, Mikimoto, Rolex, MTV, and several local California creative companies, including TOMS Shoes.

Before Shimoda graduated with a Bachelor in Architecture from California Polytechnic State University, he interned with (then upstarts) Thom Mayne and Michael Rotondi in Los Angeles. In 1991, Shimoda joined the architecture and interiors firm Keating Mann Jernigan Rottet (KMJR). For nine years, Shimoda worked closely with Lauren Rottet, the 1994 Designer of the Year who is now the principal of her own firm, Rottet Studio. Shimoda said that his work with Rottet is where he learned how to work with corporate clients and take on big projects with Fortune 500 companies.

In 2000, Shimoda founded Shimoda Design Group, a studio founded on a multi-disciplined platform that seeks to bring quality design, innovation, and technical excellence in projects of every scale. The studio has the ability to assemble an optimum team of design professionals according to each client’s needs, including planners, landscape architects, graphic designers, lighting consultants, and marketing professionals.

The global, commercial furniture manufacturer Steelcase is one of Shimoda Design Group’s key clients. Shimoda has designed showrooms for Steelcase in Santa Monica and Chicago. Pleased with his work, Steelcase asked Shimoda to complete a major interior transformation at its headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Shimoda was hired to redesign the company’s 20,000-square-foot cafeteria (dubbed the Work Café) and to design a new innovation center, which includes a model shop, design center, and testing lab.

In 2013, Contract magazine named Joey Shimoda Designer of the Year. Shimoda also took on his first civic project with the renovation and expansion of the Museum of Neon Art (MONA) in Glendale, California. Once completed, MONA will serve as the anchor for Glendale’s new Cultural Arts District. The building’s focal point—a 19-foot-long neon female diver perched atop the roof—will become a landmark on Brand Boulevard.

In addition to his professional activities, Shimoda has taught at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-ARC) and continues to participate in symposiums and student reviews at several universities including SCI-ARC, UCLA, USC, and Woodbury. His personal artwork has been exhibited in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, and New York.

Sponsor:

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